Cream Filled Phyllo Cones

These delicious little treats are known as “Trigona Panoramatos” since they come from an area in Greece close to Thessaloniki, called Panorama. You could call them Greek cannoli!

• Preheat oven to 160* C (320* F) Fan.

For the cream

• Place a pot over medium heat.
• Add the milk, 250 g of the sugar and the vanilla bean. Heat until it comes to a boil.
• At the same time combine the eggs and 50 g of sugar in a bowl. Whisk until the sugar dissolves completely.
• When the milk is ready, remove from heat and very gradually add it to the bowl with the eggs, while continuously whisking.
• Wipe down the pot used for the milk with some paper towels and place back on heat.
• Add the butter and let it melt.
• Add the flour and sauté while whisking the roux continuously.  
• Add the egg and milk mixture in small batches (spoonfuls), lightly whisking with each addition. Remove the vanilla bean.
• Whisk continuously to break up any lumps, until the cream thickens and it is smooth and velvety. When you notice it bubbling it should be ready. Give the cream a taste to make sure the flavor of the flour has been cooked off. If it has the cream is ready!
• Remove from heat and transfer to a deep dish or bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap touches the surface of the cream directly so that it doesn’t form a film.
• Refrigerate for 2-3 hours to chill completely.

For the syrup

• Place a saucepan over medium heat.
• Add the water and sugar and bring to a bowl.
• When the sugar melts, it is ready.
• Remove from heat and set it aside to cool completely.

For the phyllo cones

• Place the sheet of phyllo dough in front of you, the short side facing you. Divide it into 3 even vertical strips with a sharp knife. Place them one on top of the other.
• Place 1 strip of phyllo in front of you. Drizzle with butter.
• Cover with another strip of phyllo and drizzle with butter.
• Fold over to make a triangle pie.
• Cut the triangle in half, vertically with a sharp knife to create two smaller triangles.
• Open up each triangle, to make it look like an ice cream cone and place one of the crumpled balls of parchment in each. (Cut pieces of parchment paper in to 10x10x cm squares and crumble them in to small balls.)
• Repeat process for the rest of the phyllo dough.
• Transfer all of the phyllo cones to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and drizzle with some butter.
• Repeat the same process for all of the strips of phyllo.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, until crunchy and golden.
• When ready, remove from oven and dip them in the cooled syrup for a few seconds.
• Remove from syrup and let them drain on a wire rack and remove the balls of parchment.

To assemble

• Transfer the mixture to a piping bag.
• To assemble, pipe the cream into the phyllo cones. You can decorate with whipped cream, almond slivers and pistachio nuts.